SoCal Gas withdrew natural gas from its Aliso Canyon underground gas storage reservoir today under emergency rules to meet rising winter demand for the fuel to heat homes and produce electricity across southern California.
The withdrawal is the first since January 2016 when state regulators directed SoCal to keep at least 15 Bcf of gas available to be used to maintain reliability of the gas and electric grids.
Executives from California's Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and the Department of Conservation's Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) plan to decide next month whether to give SoCal Gas authority to resume partial operation at Aliso Canyon. The key storage field has been unavailable because of a massive leak that allowed nearly 5 Bcf to escape into the atmosphere beginning in late October 2015.
In a posting on its electronic billboard today, SoCal said gas was needed from Aliso Canyon to meet rising demand driven by current weather conditions.
"Today's withdrawal at Aliso Canyon utilizes only those wells that have been approved by (DOGGR) as having passed all of the tests required by the state's comprehensive safety review," SoCal said.
Yesterday, SoCal Gas issued a voluntary conservation request and a systemwide curtailment watch for power generators and industrial users as below-normal temperatures continue to boost gas demand to heat homes and businesses. A series of storms over the past week has also reduced solar generation across the west. The systemwide curtailment watch remains in effect until further notice.
SoCal's gas sendout yesterday set a new winter high of 4.15 Bcf/d (118mn m³/d), approaching the upper limit of what state regulators said the SoCal system could serve without either curtailing gas to power plants or tapping gas from the Aliso Canyon storage field.
SoCal met yesterday's demand with nearly 3.2 Bcf/d in pipeline receipts and 953mn cf/d from its remaining three storage fields.
Spot prices for gas for delivery today at the SoCal Citygates jumped by 5pc to $3.66/mmBtu, a three-week high.
SoCal's forecast, which is highly dependent on weather, calls for daily demand of 4 Bcf/d today and tomorrow, a level which may have required another 1Bcf/d in withdrawals from its remaining storage sites, which are much smaller than Aliso Canyon.
SoCal has reduced its available gas in storage since 1 January by 8 Bcf to 47.8 Bcf.
DOGGR said SoCal notified the state agencies this morning about the emergency withdrawal.
Currently, 34 wells at Aliso Canyon have passed DOGGR's safety tests, with one additional well pending. Others have been taken out of operation.
Estimates of the field's current withdrawal capacity fall far short of requirements set out by the CPUC which said it is unlikely SoCal can return the number of wells needed to meet those requirements before the fourth quarter.
